Officials say Iranian operatives secretly reached out through a third-country intelligence service to explore possible terms to halt the ongoing conflict.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Iranian intelligence officials quietly contacted the Central Intelligence Agency through an intermediary shortly after the start of the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran, according to officials familiar with the communication.
The outreach was made by operatives from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence who attempted to explore possible terms to end the military operations targeting the country, Middle Eastern and Western officials said. The officials spoke anonymously in a report published by <em>The New York Times</em>.
According to those officials, the communication occurred indirectly through another nation’s intelligence service roughly one day after the attacks began.
Despite the reported outreach, Iran has continued publicly rejecting negotiations with President Donald Trump while the conflict continues.
U.S. officials have expressed doubt that either Washington or Tehran is currently prepared to pursue direct negotiations in the near term.
The reported message nonetheless highlights uncertainty surrounding Iran’s internal leadership structure as Israeli strikes continue targeting senior officials within the government.
Neither the White House nor Iranian officials responded to requests for comment regarding the report. The CIA also declined to comment.
Israeli leaders have urged the United States not to pursue discussions with Tehran at this stage of the conflict, according to officials cited in the report. Israel has indicated it intends to continue military operations aimed at weakening Iran’s military capabilities and potentially destabilizing the governing system.
President Trump appeared to dismiss the possibility of negotiations in comments posted to social media Tuesday morning, stating that it was now “too late” to negotiate with Iran.
Later the same day, Trump told reporters that many Iranian officials previously considered potential negotiating counterparts had been killed during the strikes.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said. “Pretty soon, we are not going to know anybody.”
The reported outreach underscores a strategic question facing the Trump administration as it weighs future steps in the conflict: what form of leadership could emerge in Tehran if the current governing structure weakens or collapses.
Earlier in the conflict, Trump suggested that popular unrest within Iran could lead to the emergence of new leadership. More recent comments from the president suggest a scenario in which leadership changes could occur within Iran’s existing political system.
Officials familiar with administration discussions said any agreement to halt military operations would likely require Iran to significantly curtail or abandon its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and end support for regional proxy groups including Hezbollah.
In return, the United States could allow surviving Iranian leaders to retain some degree of political and economic influence.
Trump recently referenced developments in Venezuela as a possible framework for reshaping leadership within Iran.
“What we did in Venezuela, I think, is the perfect scenario,” Trump said during an interview with <em>The New York Times</em>. “Leaders can be picked.”
Some analysts, however, have expressed skepticism that such an outcome could be achieved.
Steven A. Cook, a Middle East specialist with the Council on Foreign Relations, told the Times that Trump’s remarks may reflect differing objectives between the United States and Israel regarding the ultimate outcome of the campaign.
Cook said Israel may oppose efforts by Washington to pursue what he described as a “Venezuela-like solution to change in Iran,” particularly if that approach involved figures connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which maintains substantial economic and political influence inside the country.
Israeli military operations have continued to target leadership figures within Iran as the conflict unfolds.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces struck a compound where senior Iranian clerics were reportedly meeting to discuss a successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a recent airstrike.
Before the strikes began, the CIA had reportedly prepared an intelligence assessment examining possible leadership outcomes in Iran following a U.S.-Israeli military campaign.
Officials briefed on that report said analysts were unable to assign high confidence to any scenario because of the complexity of Iran’s political system and the uncertainties surrounding its leadership succession.
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